Fill a Growler From Your Keg

Have you ever wanted to fill a growler from your keg without the beer tasting like cardboard the next day? Have you never, ever run across BierMuncher’s post on the topic? Well today’s your lucky day! Hold on, because it’s really complicated…

The Parts

The Tools

The Procedure

Cut the large black seal off the bottom of the tube. Then cut the hook off the top of the top, but make the cut diagonal. Use the sandpaper to smooth all the burrs off both ends, both inside and out.

Then work the drilled stopped up the siphon tube, with the small/bottom side of the stopper closer to the diagonally cut end of the tube. Check it against your growlers so that the tube touches the bottom of the growler and the stopper seals well in the growler’s mouth. For a normal-size growler, the bottom of the stopper will be a bit over 9 3/4″ from the pointy end of the tube. You’re done!

The Pour

You’ll need a party tap (or “cobra” tap) since this doesn’t work with Perlicks and the like. Once you’ve hooked the party tap up to your keg, slip the flat end of the filler tube into the outlet of the party tap. It’ll be snug, but that’s good. Twist it in if you have to, but it shouldn’t take too much force. You also don’t want to shove it in too far, otherwise you’ll block the tap’s gasket mechanism. No worries, you’ll get it.

Now purge your growler with CO2. It also helps if the growler is cold, but it doesn’t really matter. Insert the tube into the growler, making sure the stopper forms a good seal. Pull the tap trigger and watch the beer flow! It’ll foam a bit at first but you shouldn’t get too much. The flow will stop as the pressure builds up inside the growler, so now just squeeze the stopper a bit to let some CO2 out and keep filling until the foam hits the neck of the growler.